Martin,
piece of advice, worthless as it may be coming from me, but still... my 2p worth (no pun intended...):
do not let anyone/anything put you off your dreams, ever.
If it is something you really want and come back to.. thinking about, dreaming, well then if you don't give it a shot you're going to regret it. So do not give up and just go ahead with your plans. Once you get there you will reap the "fruits of your labours"
